Dynamic region division and region passage identification methods and cleaning robot

ABSTRACT

Provided are dynamic region division and region passage identification methods and a cleaning robot. The dynamic region division method includes: acquiring environment information collected by a robot when working in a first region; determining whether the robot has completed a work task in the first region, when a presence of a passage entering a second region is determined based on the environment information; and complementing a boundary at the passage to block the passage, when the work task is not completed. According to the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application, the occurrence probability of repeated sweeping and miss sweeping is reduced, and the cleaning efficiency is high. In addition, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application relies on the environment information collected during the work, rather than relying on historical map data, so that the environmental adaptability is high.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of computer technology, andmore particularly relates to dynamic region division and region passageidentification methods and a cleaning robot.

BACKGROUND

As technology advances, mobile robots are widely used to assist humansin completing tasks such as transportation, sweeping, etc. Cleaningrobots (such as sweeping robots, mopping robots, etc.) are typicalapplications of mobile robots. If the path or behavior plan of the robotis unreasonable, the problems such as low coverage rate and high pathrepetition rate may occur.

In the prior art, after the cleaning robot completes at least onecleaning task, the cleaning area is divided according to a cleaning mapfor next cleaning. However, the robot may not be able to performregional cleaning well using the previous cleaning map, when theenvironment changes greatly.

SUMMARY

The present application provides dynamic region division and regionpassage identification methods and a cleaning robot capable of solvingor partially solving the above problem.

An embodiment of the present application provides a dynamic regiondivision method. The method includes:

acquiring environment information collected by a robot when working in afirst region;

determining whether the robot has completed a work task in the firstregion, when a presence of a passage entering a second region isdetermined based on the environment information; and

complementing a boundary at the passage to block the passage, when thework task is not completed.

Another embodiment of the present application provides a dynamic regiondivision method. The method includes:

acquiring an environment image collected by a robot in a first region;

collecting environment information, when an image conforming to apassage structure is identified in the environment image; and

executing passage blocking setting to divide the first region and asecond region communicated through a passage, when a presence of thepassage entering the second region is determined based on theenvironment information.

Yet another embodiment of the present application provides a cleaningrobot. The cleaning robot includes: a memory and a processor; where,

the memory is used for storing programs; and

the processor is coupled with the memory and used for executing theprograms stored in the memory so as to:

acquiring environment information collected by a robot when working in afirst region;

determining whether the robot has completed a work task in the firstregion, when a presence of a passage entering a second region isdetermined based on the environment information; and

complementing a boundary at the passage to block the passage, when thework task is not completed.

Yet another embodiment of the present application provides a cleaningrobot. The cleaning robot includes: a memory and a processor; where,

the memory is used for storing programs;

the processor is coupled with the memory and used for executing theprograms stored in the memory so as to:

acquiring an environment image collected by a robot in a first region;

collecting environment information, when an image conforming to thepassage structure is identified in the environment image; and

executing passage blocking setting to divide the first region and asecond region communicated through a passage, when a presence of thepassage entering the second region is determined based on theenvironment information.

Yet another embodiment of the present application provides a regionpassage identification method, including:

acquiring environment information collected by a robot in a first regionby using a laser sensor, where the first region is adjacent to adetected second region;

identifying whether there is a gap conforming to the passage structurein the first region based on the environment information; and

if so, identifying whether the gap is the passage entering the secondregion from the first region in accordance with the obstacle boundarieson both sides of the left and right end points of the gap.

Yet another embodiment of the present application provides a robot. Therobot includes: a memory and a processor; where,

the memory is used for storing programs; and

the processor is coupled with the memory and used for executing theprograms stored in the memory so as to:

acquire environment information collected by the robot in a first regionby using a laser sensor, where the first region is adjacent to adetected second region;

identify whether there is a gap conforming to the passage structure inthe first region based on the environment information; and

if so, identify whether the gap is the passage entering the secondregion from the first region in accordance with the obstacle boundarieson both sides of the left and right end points of the gap.

In the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the presentapplication, the environment information collected by the robot when therobot works in the first region is acquired, the presence of a passageentering the second region is determined based on the environmentinformation, and a boundary is complemented at the passage to block thepassage when it is determined that the robot has not completed the worktask in the first region, thereby ensuring the principle that the robotmay enter the next region to work only after the work in the singleregion is completed, reducing the occurrence probability of repeatedsweeping and miss sweeping, and improving the cleaning efficiency. Inaddition, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of thepresent application relies on the environment information collectedduring working, rather than relying on historical map data, so that theenvironmental adaptability is high.

In another technical solution provided by the embodiment of the presentapplication, environment image collected by the robot in the firstregion is acquired; environment information is acquired when an imageconforming to the passage structure is identified in the environmentimage; and if the presence of the passage entering the second region isdetermined based on the environment information, the first region andthe second dynamic region, which are communicated through the passage,are divided so as to divide the working area in real time. Theoccurrence probability of the robot shuttling back and forth across thearea is reduced, the dynamic partition is realized and the cleaningefficiency is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of thepresent invention or the prior art more clearly, the drawings requiredto be used for descriptions about the embodiments or the prior art willbe simply introduced below. It is apparent that the drawings describedbelow are some embodiments of the present invention. Those of ordinaryskill in the art may further obtain other drawings according to thesedrawings without creative work.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a dynamic region division methodprovided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a dynamic region division methodprovided by another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an indoorregion topology map according to an embodiment of the presentapplication;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a robot working in room 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a robot continuing working in the room1 according to a continuation scheme;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a robot working into a corridor regionthrough a passage;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a dynamicregion division apparatus provided in an embodiment of the presentapplication;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a dynamicregion division apparatus provided in another embodiment of the presentapplication;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a cleaningrobot provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state of a region passageidentification provided in an embodiment of the present application; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of a region passage identificationmethod provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

When a cleaning robot, such as a sweeping robot, sweeps indoors of ahouse, the robot completes the sweeping task by traversing the entirefloor region of the house. If different rooms cannot be distinguishedfor cleaning respectively, the robot may repeatedly enter and exit thesame room or alternately appear between different rooms, and thecleaning task of one room may be completed only by repeatedly enteringand exiting the same room, so that the cleaning efficiency is low; thephenomenon of repeated sweeping, miss sweeping and the like isindirectly caused, and even the whole house cannot be completely swept.In order to solve the above problem, rooms should be identified andcleaned according to the principle that a single room is cleaned beforecleaning the next room.

There is a static division scheme in the prior art. The static divisionscheme is that after the cleaning robot completes at least one cleaningtask, it may draw a house map of the whole house; the house map is thenpartitioned to divide different rooms, and the map data of the dividedrooms is used by the robot for next cleaning. However, the staticdivision scheme has poor adaptability, and the existing map data cannotbe used when the environment changes.

In order to enable those skilled in the prior art to better understandthe present application, the technical solution provided by variousembodiments of the present application are illustrated in detail andcompletely in conjunction with the drawings.

In some of the processes described in the description, claims, and theabove drawings of the present application, a plurality of operationsoccurring in a particular order are included, which may be performed outof the order herein or be performed in parallel. The sequence numbers ofthe operations, such as 101, 102, etc., are merely used to distinguishbetween the various operations, and the sequence numbers themselves donot represent any order of execution. In addition, the processes mayinclude more or fewer operations, and the operations may be performedsequentially or in parallel. It should be noted that the expressionsherein of “first”, “second”, etc. are intended to distinguish betweendifferent messages, devices, modules, etc., and are not intended torepresent a sequential order, nor is it intended to limit that “first”and “second” are of different types. Furthermore, the embodimentsdescribed hereafter are merely a part of the embodiments of the presentapplication and not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of thepresent application, all other embodiments obtained by those ordinarilyskilled in the art without paying creative work fall within theprotection scope of the present application.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of a dynamic region division methodprovided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in theFIG. 1, the method provided by the present embodiment includes:

101, acquiring environment information collected by a robot when workingin a first region;

102, determining whether the robot has completed a work task in thefirst region, when a presence of a passage entering a second region isdetermined based on the environment information; and

103, complementing a boundary at the passage to block the passage, whenthe work task is not completed.

In the above 101, the environment information may be two-dimensionalpoint cloud data acquired after a sensor (such as a laser sensor, etc.)arranged on the robot scans obstacles in a plane; or three-dimensionalpoint cloud data acquired by a sensor module including a vision sensor(e.g., a monocular camera, a binocular camera, a depth camera RGBD,etc.) provided on the robot, which is not particularly limited in thisembodiment.

In the above 102, the passage refers to a pathway such as a dooropening, through which the robot may pass and which connects tworegions. Taking the door opening as an example, the door opening hascertain characteristics, such as a shape characteristic and a sizecharacteristic, etc. Therefore, in a specific implementation, whetherthe channel corresponding to the channel characteristics (such as theshape characteristic and the size characteristic, etc.) may bedetermined in the actual working scene of the robot based on theenvironment information.

Whether the robot has completed the work task in the first region may bedetermined based on the work record of the robot in the first region.The work record may include, but not limited to: working mode (such asbow-shaped cleaning mode, Z-shaped cleaning mode and the like), startingposition and current position of the robot. It is assumed that, as shownin FIG. 5, the working mode of the robot is the bow-shaped cleaning modewith the starting position at a position in the region map of the firstregion (room 1 in FIG. 5). The robot operates in bow-shaped cleaningmode from the starting position to the current position shown in FIG. 5.All the information may be recorded, and then whether the robot hascompleted the work task in the room 1 may be determined based on thework record of the robot in the room 1 shown in FIG. 5.

In the technical solution provided by the present embodiment,environment information collected by the robot when the robot works inthe first region is acquired; the robot is prevented from entering thesecond region through the passage when the presence of the passageentering the second region is determined based on the environmentinformation and it is determined that the robot does not complete thework task in the first region, thereby ensuring the principle that therobot may enter the next region to work only after the work task in thesingle region has been completed, reducing the occurrence probability ofrepeated sweeping and miss sweeping, and improving the cleaningefficiency. In addition, the technical solution provided by the presentembodiment relies on the environment information collected in real timeduring work, rather than relying on historical map data, so theenvironmental adaptability is high.

In an implementable technical solution, the environment information is apoint cloud model. Accordingly, the above 101 may include:

1011, collecting an environment image, when the robot works in the firstregion;

1012, identifying the environment image; and

1013, constructing the point cloud model for a surrounding environmentof the robot by utilizing the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping(SLAM) technology, when an image conforming to a passage structure isidentified in the environment image.

The environment image may be collected by a vision sensor arranged onthe robot. The identifying the environment images may include, but notlimited to, the following ways:

Way 1, training a depth learning training model through a large numberof samples by using a depth learning method to obtain an identificationmodel; and then taking the environment image as an input of theidentification model, and executing the identification model to obtainan output result that the environment image contains the imageconforming to the passage structure;

Way 2, comparing the environment image with a preset passage structureimage by using an image pattern matching method; and if they arematching, determining that the environment image contains an imageconforming to the passage structure; otherwise, determining that theenvironment image does not contain an image conforming to the passagestructure.

The SLAM technology refers to that the robot determines its own spatialposition in the unknown environment through the sensor information, andestablishes the environment model of the space. By adopting the SLAMtechnology, the robot needs only to carry the sensor to view theenvironment around the room to construct an environment map, which issimple in operation. And with the progress of the sensor accuracy andthe technology, the map accuracy constructed by the SLAM technology isgradually improved. The SLAM method mainly utilizes laser or sonar togenerate a two-dimensional point cloud model, so as to construct atwo-dimensional map. Because the laser scanning range is limited to asingle plane, vision-based SLAM (VSLAM) technology may be adopted togenerate a three-dimensional point cloud model by using a vision sensorso as to construct a three-dimensional map, in order to completelyrepresent the complex structure of the environment.

That is, the point cloud model in the above 1013 of the presentembodiment may be the two-dimensional point cloud model constructed byadopting the SLAM technology, and may further be the three-dimensionalpoint cloud model constructed by adopting the VSLAM technology.

Furthermore, the environment information is a point cloud model, andaccordingly, the method provided by the present embodiment furtherincludes:

104, acquiring size information of a candidate structure conforming tothe passage structure based on the point cloud model; and

105, determining that the candidate structure is the passage enteringthe second region, when the size information meets the preset sizerequirement.

Due to the fact that the size information is recorded in the point cloudmodel, the size information of the candidate structure conforming to thepassage structure may be obtained based on the point cloud model. In aspecific implementation, the size information may include: width, heightand depth. In an implementable technical solution, a preset sizerequirement includes a width range, a height range and a depth range;and if the width contained in the size information is within the widthrange, the height within the height range and the depth within the depthrange, the size information meets the preset size requirement. Throughthe steps 104 and 105 described above, the true passage (e.g., dooropening) may be screened out, false positives may be deleted, and falseidentification of conditions similar to the passage structure, such ascabinets, wall paintings, etc., may be avoided.

In another implementable technical solution, the environment informationis two-dimensional point cloud data collected by the laser sensor on therobot after scanning obstacles in one plane. Accordingly, the methodprovided by the present embodiment may further determine whether thereis a passage entering the second region from the first region based onthe environment information by using the following methods, where, themethod for determining whether there is a passage entering the secondregion from the first region based on the environment informationincludes: first, identifying whether there is a gap conforming to thepassage structure in the first region based on the two-dimensional pointcloud data; and if the gap conforming to the passage structure exists,identifying whether the gap is the passage entering the second regionfrom the first region in accordance with the obstacle boundaries on bothsides of the left and right end points of the gap.

An optional manner for identifying the gap is as follows: searching forobstacles in the front region of the robot based on the two-dimensionalpoint cloud data; if adjacent obstacles are found in the front region,calculating the angle formed by the robot and the adjacent obstacle;calculating the distance between the adjacent obstacles if the angle islarger than a set angle threshold; and determining there is a gapconforming to the passage structure between the adjacent obstacles ifthe distance between the adjacent obstacles meets a set distancerequirement.

It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application,the range of the front region is not limited and may be set flexiblyaccording to the present application scenarios. Similarly, in theembodiments of the present application, the angle threshold and thedistance requirement are not limited, and may be flexibly set accordingto the present application requirement. The front area, the anglethreshold and the distance requirement may be correlated and mutuallyinfluenced. Taking an application scenario containing a door opening asan example, if the width of the door opening is 70-120 cm (centimeters),the above-mentioned front region may be within the range of 1 m (meter)in front of the robot and 90 degrees in the left and right directions.Correspondingly, the angle threshold may be 110 degrees, and thedistance requirement may be a certain range, such as 70-120 cm. In thisscenario, the manner for identifying the gap is as follows: searchingfor obstacles in the range of 1 m in front of the robot and 90 degreesto the left and right directions of the robot; if adjacent obstacles arefound, calculating the angle formed by the robot and the adjacentobstacle; calculating the distance between the adjacent obstacles if theangle is larger than 110 degrees; and determining that there is a gapconforming to the passage structure between the adjacent obstacles ifthe distance between the adjacent obstacles is between 70 to 120 cm.

Further, in order to reduce the misjudgment rate, it is also possible tocalculate the number of obstacles in specified range around the gap, andto assist in determining whether the gap between the adjacent obstaclesconforms to the passage structure based on the number of the obstaclesin the specified range around the gap. For different passage structures,the embodiments that assist in determining whether the gap conforms tothe passage structure based on the number of the obstacles within thespecified range around the gap are different. Assuming that the passagestructure is a door opening structure, there are usually not manyobstacles around the door opening. Then, it may be determined whetherthe number of the obstacles in the specified range around the gap meetsa set number requirement, for example, whether the number of theobstacles is less than the set number threshold, if so, determining thatthe gap conforms to the passage structure; and if not, determining thatthe gap does not conform to the passage structure.

In one specific embodiment, the number of obstacles within the frontregion, the rear region, the left region, and the right region of therobot may be calculated centered on the position of the robot, as thenumber of obstacles within the specified range around the gap.Optionally, the ranges of the front region, the rear region, the leftregion and the right region may be flexibly set according to the presentapplication scenarios, for example, a square region of 1 m*1 m, 1.5m*1.5 m, a rectangular region of 1 m*1.5 m, a sector region with aradius of 1 m, etc. Further, the obstacle occupation ratio threshold(denoted as the first occupation ratio threshold) of the front regionand the obstacle occupation ratio threshold (denoted as the secondoccupation ratio threshold) of the rear region may be preset. The firstratio of the number of obstacles in the front region of the robot to thesum of the number of obstacles in the front, rear, left and rightregions may be calculated; and the second ratio of the number ofobstacles in the rear region of the robot to the sum of the number ofobstacles in the front, rear, left and right regions is calculated. Bycomparing the first ratio and the second ratio with the first occupationratio threshold and the second occupation ratio threshold respectively,if the first ratio is smaller than the first occupation ratio thresholdand the second ratio smaller than the second occupation ratio threshold,it is determined that the gap conforms to the passage structure; andconversely, in other cases, it is determined that the gap does notconform to the passage structure. In the embodiment, the values of thefirst ratio threshold and the second ratio threshold are not limited,which may be same or different, and may be flexibly set according to thepresent application scenarios. For example, the first ratio thresholdmay be but not limited to: ½, ⅓, ⅕, etc.; and the second ratio thresholdmay be ⅔, ⅓, ¼, ⅖, etc.

After determining that there is a gap conforming to the passagestructure in the first region, it is possible to identify whether thegap is the passage entering the second region from the first regionbased on the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right endpoints of the gap. Where, an optional implantation for identifyingwhether the gap is the passage entering the second region from the firstregion based on the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the left andright end points of the gape includes: determining that the gap is thepassage entering the second region from the first region if the obstacleboundaries on both sides of the left and right end points of the gapmeet the set boundary requirement; and determining that the gap is notthe passage entering the second region from the first region if theobstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right end points ofthe gap do not meet the set boundary requirement.

The boundary requirements vary depending on the passage structures. Inan optional embodiment, the boundary requirement means that when theobstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right end points ofthe gap is parallel or approximately parallel, the gap is a passage; andconversely, the gap is not a passage. Based on the above, whether theobstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right end points ofthe gap are parallel or approximately parallel may be specificallydetermined. If the obstacle boundaries are parallel or approximatelyparallel, the gap is determined to be the passage entering the secondregion from the first region; and conversely, it is determined that thegap is not the passage entering the second region from the first region.

In the above embodiments, the obstacle boundaries on both sides of theleft and right end points of the gap refer to the obstacle boundarieshaving continuity within a certain region, and generally includes aplurality of boundary points, instead of only one boundary point. Insome application scenarios, the laser sensor on the robot may collectcontinuous obstacle boundaries in certain regions on both sides of theleft and right end points of the gap, and whether the obstacleboundaries on both sides of the left and right end points of the gap areparallel or approximately parallel may be directly determined.

In other application scenarios, in view of the angle problems, the lasersensor on the robot may be unable to collect continuous obstacleboundaries in a certain region on both sides of the left and right endpoints of the gap, and some discrete or discontinuous boundary pointsare collected. For this scenario, an embodiment mode for identifyingwhether the gap is a passage entering the second region from the firstregion includes: performing expansion and corrosion in a certain regionrange (referred to as a first set region range) on both sides of theleft and right end points of the gap to obtain continuous obstacles onboth sides of the gap; tracking the boundaries of the continuousobstacles (called obstacle boundaries for short) on both sides of thegap in a second set region range, and calculating the slopes of thetracked obstacle boundaries on both sides of the gap; and determiningwhether the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the gap are parallel orapproximately parallel according to the two slopes; and if so,determining that the gap is the passage entering the second region fromthe first region, and conversely, determining that the gap is not thepassage entering the second region from the first region.

Optionally, it may be determined whether the difference between the twoslopes is within a set difference range, and if so, it may be determinedthat the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right endpoints of the gap are parallel or approximately parallel. The differencerange may be flexibly set according to application requirements, forexample, 0-0.01, 0-0.05, etc.

In the present embodiment, the first set region range and the second setregion range are not limited, and may be set flexibly. In an optionalembodiment, the robot may construct a real-time region topology mapaccording to the two-dimensional point cloud data collected by the lasersensor, and then the first set region range and the second preset regionrange may be defined by the map information in the region topology map.Optionally, the region topology map may be a grid map, and then thefirst set region range and the second preset region range may be definedwith the grid quantity in the grid map. For example, the first setregion range may be 10-, 15-, 20-, or 30-grid ranges with the left andright end points of the gap as the starting points respectively, wherethe grid number 10, 15, 20, or 30 is merely illustrative.Correspondingly, the second preset region range may be 4 neighborhoods,8 neighborhoods or 12 neighborhoods centered on the position of therobot.

Based on the above concept of the grid map, the boundary of obstaclesmay be tracked within the second preset region range. If the number ofgrids tracked within the second preset region range is larger than a setgrid number threshold (for example, 4 grids), the obstacle boundary isdetermined to be tracked; and conversely, it is determined that theobstacle boundary tracking fails. In the event of failure, the partitionoperation may be ended.

Further and optionally, in order to reduce misjudgment rate, if it isdetermined that the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the gap areparallel or approximate parallel, at least one of the followingdetermination options may further be executed:

operation 1: determining whether the vector of the obstacle boundary onat least one side of the gap, the vector of the intersection boundary ofthe second region and the vector of the undetected region adjacent tothe second region are in the same direction;

operation 2: determining whether the angle between the obstacle boundaryon at least one side of the gap and the intersection boundary of thesecond region is within a set angle range;

operation 3: determining whether the tracking starting point of theintersection boundary of the second region and the robot are in a samecommunicated region; and

operation 4: determining whether the obstacles on both sides of the gapare not isolated obstacles.

If the results of the at least one of the above determination operationsis “yes”, it is determined that the gap is the passage entering thesecond region from the first region; and conversely, it is determinedthat the gap is not the passage entering the second region from thefirst region.

In operation 1, the obstacle boundary, the intersection boundary of thesecond region, and the undetected region adjacent to the second regionrefer to a boundary or region on the same side of the gap, for example aboundary or region on the left side of the gap, or a boundary or regionon the right side of the gap. Where, the intersection boundary of thesecond region refers to the boundary between second region and theundetected region adjacent thereto, and the boundary intersects with theleft end point or the right end point of the gap. The intersectionboundary of the second region may be tracked in a third set regionrange. On the basis of the grid map, the third set region range may alsobe defined by the number of grids. For example, 5-, 10-, 15-, or 20-gridregions in the extension direction of the second region may be definedas the third set region range with the left or right end points of thegap as starting points. The number of grids 5, 10, 15 or 20 is merelyillustrative.

In operation 1, the vector of the obstacle boundary on the left side ofthe gap refers to the vector directing toward the right end point fromthe left end point of the gap; and the vector of obstacle boundary onthe right side of gap refers to the vector directing toward the left endpoint from the right end point of the gap. Correspondingly, the vectorof the intersection boundary of the second region on the left side ofthe gap refers to the vector directing toward the intersection boundaryof the second region on the left side of the gap from the left end pointof the gap; and the vector of the intersection boundary of the secondregion on the right side of the gap refers to the vector directingtowards to the intersection boundary of the second region on the rightside of the gap from the right end point of the gap. Correspondingly,the vector of the undetected region adjacent to the second region on theleft side of the gap refers to the vector directing toward theundetected region adjacent to the second region on the left side of thegap from the left end point of the gap; and the vector of the undetectedregion adjacent with the second region on the right side of gap refersto the vector directing towards the undetected region adjacent to thesecond region on the right side of the gap from the right end point ofthe gap.

In operation 1, the three vectors located on the left side of the gapmay be in the same direction (clockwise or counterclockwise), or thethree vectors located on the right side of the gap may be in the samedirection (clockwise or counterclockwise), or the three vectors locatedon the left side of the gap and the three vectors located on the rightside of the gap may be in the same direction, respectively. Referring toFIG. 10, the three vectors on the left side of the gap (i.e., the threelines with arrows shown in FIG. 10) are in a clockwise direction.

In operation 2, it may be determined whether the angle between theobstacle boundary on the left side of the gap and the intersectionboundary of the second region on the left side of the gap is within theleft-side angle range; it may be further determined that whether theangle between the obstacle boundary on the right side of the gap and theintersection boundary of the second region on the right side of the gapis within the right-side angle range; and it may be also determined boththat whether the angle between the obstacle boundary on the left side ofthe gap and the intersection boundary of the second region on the leftside of the gap is within the left-side angle range, and that whetherthe angle between the obstacle boundary on the right side of the gap andthe intersection boundary of the second region on the right side of thegap is within the right-side angle range.

The left-side angle range and the right-side angle range may be the sameor different, and may be flexibly set according to applicationrequirements. For example, the left-side angle range may be 10-85degrees, and the right-side angle range may be 95-170 degrees, but notlimited thereto.

In operation 3, the communicated region refers to a certain regionincluding the left and right end points of the gap, and the region rangemay be determined flexibly. The tracking starting point of theintersection boundary of second region refers to the starting pointwhere the intersection boundary of the second region is tracked.

In operation 4, it may be further determined whether the obstacles onboth sides of the gap are the same obstacles with the gap. For example,the gap may be a door opening of a room, the obstacles on both sides ofthe door opening are four-sided walls in the same room, and thefour-sided walls are continuous and integral, and not belong to isolatedobstacles.

Further, in the case where it is determined that the above-mentioned gapis the passage entering the second region from the first region, thecoordinates of the left and right end points of the gap may beoutputted, so that the user or the robot may determine the position ofthe passage entering the second region from the first region.

No matter which method is adopted, after it is determined that there isa passage entering the second region, in a specific implementation, thestep 103 of the method provided by the present embodiment may include,but not limited to, the following schemes.

In one implementable scheme, the above step 103 may specificallyinclude:

1031, acquiring a region topology map and the position of the passage inthe region topology map; and

1032, complementing the boundary to block the passage at the position inthe region topology map.

In a specific implementation, the above 1032 may be specifically asfollows: additionally arranging a virtual wall at the position in theregion topology map; where the virtual wall is a boundary form that mayblock the passage, and the robot cannot pass through the virtual wall.Optionally, the virtual wall may be or may not be displayed on theregion topology map. Alternatively,

the above 1032 may be specifically as follows: arranging passageblocking attribute at the position in the region topology map; wherepassages where a blocking attribute is set are inaccessible for therobot, and setting the passage blocking attribute is anotherimplementation way to complement the boundary.

Correspondingly, the method provided by the present embodiment mayfurther include:

106, canceling the boundary complemented at the passage, when the worktask in the first region is completed.

Likewise, the above 106 may be specifically: deleting the virtual wallarranged at the position in the region topology map; or

the above 106 may be specifically: deleting the passage blockingattribute at the position in the region topology map.

Further, after the above step 103, the method provided by the presentembodiment may further include:

1031′, acquiring the working record of the robot in the first region;

1032′, determining a continuation scheme according to the work record;and

1033′, controlling the robot to continue working in the first region inaccordance with the continuation scheme.

In the above 1031′, the work record includes, but not limited to:working mode, starting position, starting orientation of the robot atthe starting position and midway position when the robot works to theposition of the passage. Correspondingly, the above step 1031′ may bespecifically: acquiring a region map of the first region; anddetermining the continuation scheme according to the region map, theworking mode, the starting position, the starting orientation and themidway position.

The above-mentioned step 1032′ may be specifically: planning a pathreturning to the starting position according to the midway position;controlling the robot to work to return to the starting position inaccordance with the path; adjusting a continuation orientation after therobot returns to the starting position again according to the startingorientation; and controlling the robot to continue working in the firstregion in the working mode along the continuation orientation from thestarting position.

Referring to the examples shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the robot adoptsthe bow-shaped working mode. When the robot moves to the passage (at thedoor 1 shown in FIG. 4), the robot may continue to move in the currentdirection (i.e. the current orientation of the robot) to the boundaryposition of the room 1 and then return back from the boundary positionto the starting position along a straight trajectory. As may be seenfrom FIG. 4, the starting direction of the robot is X positivedirection, and the adjusted continuation orientation is X negativedirection opposite to the X positive direction, as shown in FIG. 5.Finally, the robot is controlled to continuously work in the room 1 inan arch-shaped working mode along the X negative direction from thestarting position.

Further, the method provided by the present embodiment of the presentapplication may further include:

106′, when the work task is completed, controlling the robot to movefrom an end position, when the work task is completed to the midwayposition, and controlling the robot to enter the second region throughthe passage after the robot arrives the midway position.

According to the above 106, the robot is prevented from entering thesecond region through the passage by setting the region topology map;while in the step 106′, the robot is prevent from entering the secondregion through the passage by adjusting the control strategy of therobot.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a dynamic region division methodprovided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG.2, the dynamic region division method includes:

201, acquiring an environment image collected by a robot in a firstregion;

202, collecting environment information, when an image conforming to apassage structure is identified in the environment image; and

203, executing the passage blocking setting to divide the first regionand a second region communicated through a passage, when a presence ofthe passage entering the second region is determined based on theenvironment information.

In the above 201, the environment image may be collected by the visionsensor arranged on the robot.

For the method of identifying an image conforming to the passagestructure in the environment image in the above-described 202, referenceis made to the corresponding contents of the above-describedembodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

In the above 202, the environment information is a point cloud model,and accordingly, the step 202 may specifically include: constructing thepoint cloud model for the surrounding environment of the robot byutilizing the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology.

The point cloud model may be a two-dimensional point cloud modelconstructed based on the SLAM technology or a three-dimensional pointcloud model constructed based on the VSLAM technology.

Likewise, the process of how to determine whether there is a passageentering the second region based on the environment information in thepresent embodiment may be referred to the related contents in theabove-described embodiments, which will not be described in detail.

Further, the dynamic region division method provided by the presentembodiment may further include:

204, executing passage open setting to communicate the first region andthe second region through the passage, when a passage open event ismonitored.

In a specific implementation, the triggering mode of the passage openevent includes at least one of the following:

triggering the passage open event, when it is determined that the robothas completed the task in the first region based on a task executioncondition of the robot in the first region; and

triggering the passage open event after receiving a passage openinstruction input by a user.

The passage open instruction may be generated after a user touches acorresponding control key on the cleaning robot, may also be generatedafter the user operates on the map on a man-machine interactioninterface of the cleaning robot, or may be generated after the usersends a control voice to the cleaning robot.

In the technical solution provided by the present embodiment,environment image collected by the robot in the first region isacquired; the environment information is acquired when an imageconforming to the passage structure is identified in the environmentimage; and if the presence of the passage entering the second region isdetermined based on the environment information, the first region andthe second region which are communicated through the passage are dividedso as to divide the working area in real time, the occurrenceprobability of the robot shuttling back and forth across the area isreduces, the dynamic partition is realized and the cleaning efficiencyis improve thereby.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the presentapplication may be simply understood as follows: after an imageconforming to the passage structure is identified in the environmentimage acquired by the vision sensor, the three-dimensional information(such as a three-dimensional point cloud model) provided by the SLAMtechnology is utilized to determine whether a cross-domain passageexists in the actual working scene of the robot; when the passage existsand the robot works to the position of the passage by directlycontrolling the robot, the robot does not pass through the passage, andthe robot does not enter the next region for working until the work taskin the first region is completed; and when the robot works to theposition of the passage by modifying the region topology map, i.e.,carrying out passage blocking setting (e.g. additionally arranging avirtual wall) at the position of the passage on the region topology map,so that when the robot works to the passage position, the robot does notpass through the passage, and the robot does not enter the next regionfor working until the work task in the first region is completed.

In other embodiments of the present application, a laser sensor isarranged on the robot, and the laser sensor may collect surroundingenvironment information, i.e., two-dimensional point cloud data, whenthe robot is working. The technical schemes provided by theseembodiments may be simply understood as: determining whether there is across-domain passage in an actual working scene of the robot based onthe two-dimensional point cloud data collected by the laser sensor; whenthe passage exists, directly controlling the robot to achieve thefunction that the robot will not pass through the passage when workingto the position of the passage, but will enter into the next regionthrough the passage to perform cleaning task until the task in the firstregion is finished; or modifying the region topology map, i.e.,performing passage blocking setting at the position of the passage inthe region topology map (e.g. additionally arranging a virtual wall), toachieve the function that the robot will not pass through the passagewhen working to the position of the passage, but will enter into thenext region through the passage to perform cleaning task until the taskin the first region is finished.

According to the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of thepresent application, historical map data is not needed. When the robotsweeps for the first time or again in a strange environment, the robotmay be dynamically controlled in real time or the regional topologicalmap may be adjusted correspondingly, so that the robot may realizedynamic partition, thereby executing tasks according to differentregions, reducing the occurrence probability of repeated sweeping ormiss sweeping, and improving the cleaning efficiency. In addition,according to the technical solution provided by the embodiment of thepresent application, the existing vision sensor on the robot is utilizedwithout need of additional sensors, so that the cost is reduced, thestructural design difficulty is reduced, and the real-time performanceis good.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the presentapplication may be applied to all household robot products (such assweeping robots) with vision sensors. The technical solutions providedby the embodiments of the present application are described below withreference to specific application scenarios.

When performing a sweeping task in a home environment, the sweepingrobot may identify a passage (such as doors 1-4, corridor entrance andthe like shown in FIG. 4) in real time, and carry out passage blockingsetting (such as arranging a virtual wall) at the position of thepassage in the indoor room topology map shown in FIG. 4 according tothree-dimensional information (such as a three-dimensional point cloudmodel) provided by the SLAM, so that the sweeping robot may perform taskby regions.

It should be noted herein that the setting of the virtual wall isdynamic. That is, assuming that the robot is currently located in theroom 1 (as shown in FIG. 4), when it is determined that there is across-domain passage (door 1 in FIG. 4) at the moment the robot works inthe room 1 to the current position in FIG. 4, only the passagecorresponding to the door 1 is blocked; and after the robot completescleaning the room 1, a passage corresponding to the door 1 needs to beopened (for example, deleting the virtual wall), so that the robot mayenter the corridor through the door 1.

When the robot D enters the strange environment for the first time, asshown in FIG. 3, the robot is randomly placed any where, in room 1 asshown schematically in FIG. 3, regardless of the manner in which itsweeps. If the cleaning is started in a bow-shaped manner, as shown inFIG. 4, whether a passage exists or not may be identified in real timeduring the work of the robot. When the robot works to the passage andwhen the robot determines that the room 1 is not cleaned completely, therobot returns to the starting position to complete the cleaning of theremaining part according to the cleaning strategy until the cleaningtask of the room 1 is determined to be completed, the robot passesthrough the door 1, and the cleaning task of the next region (thecorridor in FIG. 5) is carried out as shown in FIG. 5, where in theexemplary floor plan, the robot will enter the corridor to perform thesweeping task.

As shown in FIG. 6, when working in the corridor region, the robot maydynamically identify whether a passage exists in real time (such asdoors 1-4, corridor entrance and the like shown in FIG. 6) and work tothe corresponding passage. When the corridor is not determined to becleaned, the robot cannot pass through the passage and enter otherregions, but the cleaning of the rest part may be completed according tothe cleaning strategy, until it is determined that the sweeping task ofthe current region (i.e. the corridor region) is completed. Then themachine selects one region among the regions without sweeping accordingto the sweeping strategy, and then passes through the passagecorresponding to the selected one region to perform the sweeping task ofthe next region.

The technical schemes provided by the embodiments of the presentapplication may be applied to all household robot products (such assweeping robots) with laser sensors. The technical schemes provided bythe embodiments of the present application will be described below inconjunction with specific application scenarios.

When entering into an unfamiliar environment as shown in FIG. 10 for thefirst time, the robot D is randomly placed anywhere, such as a positionin living room 6 as shown in FIG. 10, and starts cleaning in any manner.If the cleaning is performed in a bow-shaped manner, the robot D, duringthe cleaning process, may use the laser sensor to collect real-timeenvironment information in the working environment, that is,two-dimensional point cloud data. The solid black line in FIG. 10 showsthe wall, and the black dotted line represents the moving trajectory ofthe robot D. Based on the two-dimensional point cloud data collected bythe laser sensor, a region grid map may be constructed, as shown in FIG.10. In FIG. 10, since the room 5 and the living room 6 are notpartitioned at the beginning, when the robot D moves to the passage (thegap shown in FIG. 10), the robot D may enter the room 5 to continue thecleaning task and continue to construct the grid map. Further, duringthe cleaning task of the room 5 by the robot D, if the passage betweenthe room 5 and the living room 6 is collected again, the passage (suchas a door opening) between the room 5 and the living room 6 may beidentified according to the methods shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12.

Further, when the robot D works to the passage, if it is determined thatthe cleaning task in room 5 has not been finished, the passage blockingsetting (such as setting a virtual wall) may be performed at theposition of the passage in the grid map shown in FIG. 10, so as tocontinue the cleaning task in the room 5. When the cleaning task in theroom 5 is completely finished, the robot D will enter the living room 6through the passage to continue the cleaning task. The virtual wall hasbeen described in the foregoing scenario embodiments, and will not bedescribed repeatedly here.

In the foregoing embodiments, the robot capable of performing sweepingtask (referred to as the sweeping robot) is taken as an example todescribe the technical schemes of the present application, but it is notlimited to the sweeping robot. The robot in the embodiments of thepresent application generally refers to any mechanical equipment capableof highly autonomously moving in an environment, for example, a sweepingrobot, an escort robot or a guided robot, etc., or a purifier, unmannedvehicles, etc. Of course, the work tasks performed by different robotswill be different, which is not limited herein.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a dynamicregion division apparatus provided in an embodiment of the presentapplication. As shown in FIG. 7, the apparatus includes: a firstacquiring module 11, a determining module 12 and a complementing module13, where the first acquiring module 11 is used for acquiringenvironment information collected by the robot when working in the firstregion; the determining module 12 is used for determining whether therobot has completed a work task in the first region, when a presence ofa passage entering a second region is determined based on theenvironment information; and the complementing module 13 is used forcomplementing a boundary at the passage to block the passage, when thework task in the first region is not completed.

In the technical solution provided by the present embodiment,environment information collected by the robot when the robot works inthe first region is acquired; the presence of the passage entering thesecond region is determined based on the environment information; andwhen it is determined that the robot does not complete the work task inthe first region, the robot is prevented from entering the second regionthrough the passage, thereby ensuring the principle that the robot mayenter the next region to work only after the task in the single regionhas been completed, reducing the occurrence probability of repeatedsweeping and miss sweeping, and improving the cleaning efficiency. Inaddition, the technical solution provided by the embodiment relies onthe environment information acquired in real time, rather than relyingon historical map data, so that the environmental adaptability is high.

Further, the environment information is a point cloud model; and thefirst acquiring module 11 is further used for: collecting an environmentimage, when of the robot works in the first region; identifying theenvironment image; and constructing the point cloud model for asurrounding environment of the robot by utilizing the SLAM technology,when an image conforming to a passage structure is identified in theenvironment image.

Further, the apparatus provided by the present embodiment furtherincludes a second acquiring module and a determining module, where thesecond acquiring module is used for acquiring size information of acandidate structure conforming to the passage structure based on thepoint cloud model; and the determining module is used for determiningthat the candidate structure is the passage entering the second region,when the size information meets the preset size requirement.

Further, the size information includes: width, height and depth.

Further, the complementing module 13 is further used for: acquiring aregion topology map and a position of the passage in the region topologymap; and complementing the boundary to block the passage at the positionin the region topology map.

Further, the complementing module 13 is further used for executing apassage open setting at the position in the region topology map when thework task in the first region is completed, so that the robot enters thesecond region through the passage.

Further, the apparatus provided by the present embodiment furtherincludes a controlling module. The controlling module is used for:acquiring a work record of the robot in the first region; determining acontinuation scheme according to the work record; and controlling therobot to continue working in the first region in accordance with thecontinuation scheme.

Further, the work record includes: working mode, starting position,starting orientation of the robot at the starting position and midwayposition monitored, when the robot works to the passage.Correspondingly, the controlling module is further used for: acquiring aregion map of the first region; and determining the continuation schemeaccording to the region map, the working mode, the starting position,the starting orientation and the midway position.

Further, the controlling module is further used for: planning a pathreturning to the starting position according to the midway position;controlling the robot to work to return to the starting position inaccordance with the path; adjusting a continuation orientation after therobot returns to the starting position again according to the startingorientation; and controlling the robot to continue working in the firstregion in the working mode along the continuation orientation from thestarting position.

Further, the controlling module is further used for:

when the work task is completed, controlling the robot to move from anend position, when the work task is completed to the midway position,and controlling the robot to enter the second region through the passageafter the robot arrives the midway position.

It should be noted here that: the dynamic region division apparatusprovided by the above-mentioned embodiments may realize the technicalsolutions described in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and theprinciple of the specific implementation of the above-mentioned modulesor units may refer to the corresponding contents in the above-mentioneddynamic region division method embodiments, which will not be describedin detail here.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the regiondivision apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application.As shown in FIG. 8, the region division apparatus includes: an acquiringmodule 21, a collecting module 22 and a setting module 23, where theacquiring module 21 is used for acquiring an environment image collectedby a robot in a first region; the collecting module 22 is used forcollecting environment information, when an image conforming to apassage structure is identified in the environment image; and thesetting module 23 is used for executing passage blocking setting todivide the first region and the second region that are communicatedthrough the passage when the presence of the passage entering the secondregion is determined based on the environment information.

In the technical solution provided by the embodiment, the environmentimage collected by the robot in the first region is acquired; theenvironment information is collected when the image conforming to thepassage structure is identified in the environment image; and if thepresence of the passage entering the second region is determined basedon the environment information, the first region and the second regionwhich are communicated through the passage are divided so as to performworking region dividing in real time, the occurrence probability of therobot shuttling back and forth across the region is reduced, the dynamicpartition is realized and the cleaning efficiency is improved thereby.

Further, the setting module 23 is further used for: executing passageopen setting to communicate the first region and the second regionthrough the passage, when a passage open event is monitored.

Further, the region division apparatus provided by the presentembodiment may further include a triggering module. The triggeringmodule has at least one of:

triggering the passage open event, when it is determined that the robothas completed the task in the first region based on a task executioncondition of the robot in the first region; and

triggering the passage open event after receiving a passage openinstruction input by a user.

Further, the environment information is a point cloud model.Accordingly, the acquiring module 22 is further used for constructingthe point cloud model for a surrounding environment of the robot byutilizing SLAM technology.

It should be noted here that: the region division apparatus provided bythe above-mentioned embodiments may realize the technical solutionsdescribed in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and the principlesfor realizing the specific implementation of the above-mentioned modulesor units may refer to the corresponding contents in the above-mentionedregion division method embodiments, which will not be described indetail here.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram showing the structure of a cleaningrobot provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown inFIG. 9, the cleaning robot includes a memory 31 and a processor 32. Thememory 31 may be configured to store various data to support operationson the cleaning robot. Examples of such data include instructions forany application or method operating on the cleaning robot. The memory 31may be implemented by any type of volatile or nonvolatile memory deviceor combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), programmable read only memory(PROM), read only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magneticdisk or optical disk.

The processor 32 is coupled with the memory 31 and used for executingthe programs stored in the memory 31 so as to:

acquiring environment information collected by a robot when working in afirst region;

determining whether the robot has compeleted a work task in the firstregion, when a presence of a passage entering a second region isdetermined based on the environment information; and

complementing a boundary at the passage to block the passage, when thework task is not completed.

In the technical solution provided by the present embodiment, theenvironment information collected by the robot when the robot works inthe first region is acquired; and the robot is prevented from enteringthe second region through the passage when the presence of the passageentering the second region is determined based on the environmentinformation and it is determined that the robot does not complete thework task in the first region, thereby ensuring the principle that therobot may enter the next region to work only after the work task in thesingle region has been completed, reducing the occurrence probability ofrepeated sweeping and miss sweeping, and improving the cleaningefficiency. In addition, the technical solution provided by the presentembodiment relies on the environment information collected in real timeduring work, rather than relying on historical map data, so that theenvironmental adaptability is high.

The processor 32, when executing the programs in the memory 31, mayperform other functions in addition to those described above, withparticular reference to the foregoing description of method embodiments.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the cleaning robot may further include:other components such as a communication component 33, a vision sensor34, a power supply component 35, an audio component 36, a cleaningcomponent 37, and a power component 38, etc. Only parts of componentsare schematically shown in FIG. 9, which does not mean that the cleaningrobot includes merely the components shown in FIG. 9.

Correspondingly, the embodiments of the present application furtherprovide a computer-readable storage medium stored with computer programsthat, when executed by a computer, are capable of performing the stepsor functions of the dynamic region division method provided by theabove-described embodiments.

The present application further provides an embodiment of the cleaningrobot. The structure of the cleaning robot provided by the embodiment isthe same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, with the specificcompositional structure shown in FIG. 9. The difference is that theprocessors have different functions. The cleaning robot provided by theembodiment includes a memory and a processor. The memory is used forstoring programs. The processor is coupled with the memory and used forexecuting the programs stored in the memory so as to:

acquiring an environment image collected by the robot in the firstregion;

collecting environment information, when an image conforming to apassage structure is identified in the environment image; and

executing passage blocking setting to divide the first region and asecond region communicated through a passage, when a presence of thepassage entering the second region is determined based on theenvironment information.

In the technical solution provided by the embodiment, the environmentimage collected by the robot in the first region is acquired;environment information is acquired when an image conforming to thepassage structure is identified in the environment image; and if thepresence of the passage entering the second region is determined basedon the environment information, the first region and the second regioncommunicated through the passage are divided so as to divide work areain real time, the occurrence probability of the robot shuttling back andforth across the region is reduced, the dynamic partition is realizedand the cleaning efficiency is improved thereby.

The processor, when executing programs in the memory, may perform otherfunctions in addition to those described above, with particularreference to the foregoing description of method embodiments.

Correspondingly, the embodiments of the present application also providea computer-readable storage medium stored with computer programs that,when executed by a computer, is capable of performing the steps orfunctions of the dynamic region division method provided by theabove-described embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of a region passage identificationmethod provided in an embodiment of the present application. This methodincludes:

111, acquiring the environment information collected by the robot in afirst region by using the laser sensor, where the first region isadjacent to the detected second region;

112, identifying whether there is a gap conforming to the passagestructure in the first region based on the environment information; ifso, executing the step 113; otherwise, ending the operation; and

113, identifying whether the gap is a passage entering the second regionfrom the first region in accordance with the obstacle boundaries on bothsides of the left and right end points of the gap;

where the second region is a known region that robot has detected, andthe detection mode of the robot for the second region is not limited.

If the robot is provided with a vision sensor, the position of thepassage between the first region and the second region may be extractedvisually, and then real-time partition may be carried out based on theposition of the passage. However, for the robot provided with a visionsensor, for example for a robot only provided with a laser sensor, theposition of the passage between the first region and the second regioncannot be visually extracted.

Aiming at the above problems, the embodiment provides a region passageidentification method. In the embodiment, a laser sensor is arranged onthe robot, and the environment information, i.e., two-dimensional pointcloud data, may be collected after the laser sensor scans obstacles in aplane. Based on the environment information, it may be determinedwhether there is a gap conforming to the passage structure in the firstregion. If the gap conforming to the passage structure exists, whetherthe gap is the passage entering the second region from the first regionmay be identified in accordance with the obstacle boundaries on bothsides of the left and right end points of the gap. The embodiment solvesthe region passage identification problem faced by robots without anyvision sensor.

In an optional embodiment, the implementation of step 112 includes:searching for obstacles in the front region of the robot based on theenvironment information; if adjacent obstacles are found in the frontregion, calculating the angle formed by the robot and the adjacentobstacle; calculating the distance between the adjacent obstacles if theangle is larger than a set angle threshold; and determining there is agap conforming to the passage structure between the adjacent obstaclesif the distance between the adjacent obstacles meets a set distancerequirement.

In an optional embodiment, before determining that there is a gapconforming to the passage structure between the adjacent obstacles, themethod further includes: calculating the number of obstacles inspecified range around the gap; and assisting to determine whether thegap conforms to the passage structure in accordance with the number ofobstacles in the specified range around the gap.

In an optional embodiment, the implementation of step 113 includes:determining whether the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the leftand right end points of the gap are parallel or approximately parallel;and if the obstacle boundaries are parallel or approximate parallel,determining that the gap is the passage entering the second region fromthe first region.

Further, the determining whether the obstacle boundaries on both sidesof the left and right end points of the gap are parallel orapproximately parallel includes: calculating the slopes of the obstacleboundaries on both sides of the left and right end points of the gap;and if the slope difference of the obstacle boundaries on both sides ofthe left and right end points of the gap is within a set differencevalue range, determining that the obstacle boundaries on both sides ofthe left and right end points of the gap are not parallel orapproximately parallel.

Further, before determining whether the obstacle boundaries on bothsides of the left and right end points of the gap are parallel orapproximately parallel, the method further includes: performingexpansion and corrosion in a first set region range on both sides of theleft and right end points of the gap, to obtain continuous obstacles onboth sides of the left and right end points of the gap; and tracking theboundaries of the continuous obstacles on both sides of the left andright end points of the gap in a second set region range, to obtain theobstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right end points ofthe gap.

Further, after it is determined that the obstacle boundaries on bothsides of the left and right end points of the gap is not parallel orapproximate parallel, and before it is determined that the gap is thepassage entering the second region from the first region, the methodfurther includes executing at least one of the following operations:

determining whether the vector of the obstacle boundary on at least oneside of the gap, the vector of the intersection boundary of the secondregion and the vector of the undetected region adjacent to the secondregion are in the same direction;

determining whether the angle between the obstacle boundary on the atleast one side of the gap and the intersection boundary of the secondregion is within a set angle range;

determining whether the tracking starting point of the intersectionboundary of the second region and the robot are in a same communicatedregion;

determining whether the obstacles on both sides of the gap are the sameobstacles; and

if the results of the at least one determination operation are “yes”,determining that the gap is the passage entering the second region fromthe first region.

The intersection boundary of the second region refers to the boundarybetween the second region and the undetected region adjacent thereto,and the boundary intersects with the left end point or the right endpoint of the gap. The vector of the obstacle boundary at the left sideof the gap refers to the vector directing toward the right end pointfrom the left end point of the gap; and the vector of the obstacleboundary on the right side of the gap refers to the vector directingtoward the left end point from the right end point of the gap.Correspondingly, the vector of the intersection boundary of the secondregion on the left side of the gap refers to the vector directing towardthe intersection boundary of the second region on the left side of thegap from the left end point of the gap; and the vector of theintersection boundary of the second region on the right side of the gaprefers to the vector directing toward the intersection boundary of thesecond region on the right side of the gap from the right end point ofthe gap. Correspondingly, the vector of the undetected region adjacentto the second region on the left side of the gap refers to the vectordirecting toward the undetected region adjacent to the second region onthe left side of the gap from the left end point of the gap; and thevector of the undetected region adjacent to the second region on theright side of the gap refers to the vector directing toward theundetected region adjacent to the second region on the right side of thegap from the right end point of the gap.

Further, after determining that the gap is the passage entering thesecond region from the first region, the method further includes:executing passage blocking setting to divide the first region and thesecond region in communication through the passage.

The detailed description of various steps or operations in the presentembodiment may be found in the description in previous embodiments,which is not repeatedly described here.

The present application further provides an embodiment of a robot. Thestructure of the robot provided by the embodiment is the same as theembodiment shown in FIG. 9; and the specific compositional structure maybe seen in FIG. 9. The difference is that the processors have differentfunctions. The robot provided by the embodiment includes a memory and aprocessor. The memory is used for storing programs. The processor iscoupled with the memory, and used for executing the programs stored inthe memory, so as to:

acquire environment information collected by the robot in the firstregion by using the laser sensor, where the first region is adjacent tothe detected second region;

identify whether there is a gap conforming to the passage structurebased on the environment information; and

if so, identifying whether the gap is the passage entering the secondregion from the first region in accordance with the obstacle boundarieson both sides of the left and right end points of the gap.

According to the technical scheme provided by the embodiment, the schemeof acquiring the environment information collected by the robot in thefirst region, identifying the gap conforming to the passage structure,and identifying whether the gap is the passage entering the secondregion from the first region in accordance with the obstacle boundarieson both sides of the left and right end points of the gap, solves theregion passage identification problems. Further, after the passagesamong the regions are identified, the first region and the secondregion, which are communicated through the passage, are divided so as todivide the working area in real time, reduce the occurrence probabilityof the robot shuttling back and forth across the area, realize dynamicpartition and improve the cleaning efficiency.

When the processor is executing the programs stored in the memory, otherfunctions may be implemented in addition to those described above,particularly as described in the preceding method embodiments.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present application furtherprovides a computer readable storage medium with shored computerprograms. The computer programs, when being executed by a computer, maybe executed to implement the steps and functions of the dynamic regiondivision method provided by the above-mentioned embodiments.

The apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, wherethe units described as separate components may or may not be physicallyseparated, and the components displayed as units may or may not bephysical units, i.e., may be located at a place, or may be distributedto multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selectedaccording to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the scheme of thisembodiment. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand andimplement without creative work.

Through the description of the above implementation modes, those skilledin the art may clearly understand that various implementation modes maybe implemented by means of software and a necessary general hardwareplatform, and of course, by hardware. Based on such understanding, theessence of the foregoing technical solutions or portions makingcontribution to the prior art may be embodied in the form of softwareproducts. The computer software products may be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium such as a ROM/RAM, a magnetic disk andan optical disc, including instructions for causing a computer device(which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.)to perform the methods described in various embodiments or portions ofthe embodiments.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used toillustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and are notlimited thereto. Although the present invention has been described indetail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinaryskill in the art will understand that the technical solutions describedin the foregoing embodiments may be still modified, or some technicalfeatures are equivalently replaced. These modifications or replacementsdo not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions departfrom the spirit and scope of the technical solutions in variousembodiments of the present invention.

1. A dynamic region division method, comprising: acquiring environmentinformation collected by a robot when working in a first region;determining whether the robot has completed a work task in the firstregion, when a presence of a passage entering a second region isdetermined based on the environment information; and complementing aboundary at the passage to block the passage, when the work task is notcompleted.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the environmentinformation is a point cloud model; and the acquiring the environmentinformation collected by the robot when working in the first regioncomprises: collecting an environment image, when the robot works in thefirst region; identifying the environment image; and constructing thepoint cloud model for a surrounding environment of the robot byutilizing a Simultaneous Location and Mapping technology, when an imageconforming to a passage structure is identified in the environmentimage.
 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: acquiringsize information of a candidate structure conforming to the passagestructure based on the point cloud model; and determining that thecandidate structure is the passage entering the second region, when thesize information meets a preset size requirement.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 3, wherein the size information comprises: width,height and depth.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: theenvironment information is two-dimensional point cloud data collected bya laser sensor on the robot; and determining whether there is a passageentering the second region based on the environment informationcomprises: identifying whether there is a gap conforming to the passagestructure in the first region based on the two-dimensional point clouddata; and identifying whether the gap is the passage entering the secondregion from the first region according to obstacle boundaries on bothsides of the left and right end points of the gap, if there is a gapconforming to the passage structure.
 6. The method according to claim 5,wherein the identifying whether there is a gap conforming to the passagestructure in the first region based on the environment informationcomprises: searching for an obstacle in a front region of the robotbased on the environment information; if adjacent obstacles are found ina front region, calculating an angle formed by the robot and theadjacent obstacles; calculating a distance between the adjacentobstacles if the angle is larger than a set angle threshold; anddetermining that there is a gap conforming to the passage structurebetween the adjacent obstacles if the distance between the adjacentobstacles meets a set distance requirement.
 7. The method according toclaim 6, wherein prior to determining that there is a gap conforming tothe passage structure between the adjacent obstacles, further comprises:calculating a number of obstacles in specified range around the gap; andassisting to determine whether the gap conforms to the passage structureaccording to the number of the obstacles in the specified range aroundthe gap.
 8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the identifyingwhether the gap is the passage entering the second region from the firstregion according to the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the leftand right end points of the gap comprises: determining whether theobstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right end points ofthe gap are parallel or approximately parallel; and if the obstacleboundaries are parallel or approximately parallel, determining that thegap is the passage entering the second region from the first region. 9.The method according to claim 8, wherein the determining whether theobstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and right end points ofthe gap are parallel or approximately parallel comprises: calculatingslopes of the obstacle boundaries on both sides of the left and rightend points of the gap; and if a slope difference value of the obstacleboundaries on both sides of the left and right end points of the gap iswithin a set difference value range, determining that the obstacleboundaries on both sides of the left and right end points of the gap arenot parallel or approximately parallel.
 10. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the complementing the boundary at the passage to blockthe passage comprises: acquiring a region topology map and a position ofthe passage in the region topology map; and complementing the boundaryto block the passage at the position in the region topology map.
 11. Themethod according to claim 10, further comprising: canceling the boundarycomplemented at the passage, when the work task is completed.
 12. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein after the complementing theboundary at the passage to block the passage, when the work task is notcompleted further comprises: acquiring a work record of the robot in thefirst region; determining a continuation scheme according to the workrecord; and controlling the robot to continue working in the firstregion in accordance with the continuation scheme.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 12, wherein: the work record comprises: working mode,starting position, starting orientation of the robot at the startingposition and midway position monitored, when the robot works to thepassage; and the determining the continuation scheme according to thework record comprises: acquiring a region map of the first region; anddetermining the continuation scheme according to the region map, theworking mode, the starting position, the starting orientation and themidway position.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein thecontrolling the robot to continue working in the first region inaccordance with the continuation scheme comprises: planning a pathreturning to the starting position according to the midway position;controlling the robot to work to return to the starting position inaccordance with the path; adjusting a continuation orientation after therobot returns to the starting position again according to the startingorientation; and controlling the robot to continue working in the firstregion in the working mode along the continuation orientation from thestarting position.
 15. The method according to claim 14, furthercomprising: when the work task is completed, controlling the robot tomove from an end position, when the work task is completed to the midwayposition, and controlling the robot to enter the second region throughthe passage after the robot arrives the midway position.
 16. A dynamicregion division method, comprising: acquiring an environment imagecollected by a robot in a first region; collecting environmentinformation, when an image conforming to a passage structure isidentified in the environment image; and executing passage blockingsetting to divide the first region and a second region communicatedthrough a passage, when a presence of the passage entering the secondregion is determined based on the environment information.
 17. Themethod according to claim 16, further comprising: executing passage opensetting to communicate the first region and the second region throughthe passage, when a passage open event is monitored.
 18. The methodaccording to claim 17, wherein a triggering mode of the passage openevent comprises at least one of: triggering the passage open event, whenthe robot completes the task in the first region based on a taskexecution condition of the robot in the first region; and triggering thepassage open event after receiving a passage open instruction input by auser.
 19. The method according to claim 16, wherein: the environmentinformation is a point cloud model; and the acquiring the environmentinformation comprises: constructing the point cloud model for asurrounding environment of the robot by utilizing a SimultaneousLocalization and Mapping technology.
 20. A cleaning robot, comprising: amemory that is used for storing programs; and a processor that iscoupled with the memory and is used for executing the programs stored inthe memory so as to: acquire environment information collected by arobot when working in a first region; determine whether the robot hascompleted a work task in the first region, when a presence of a passageentering a second region is determined based on the environmentinformation; and complement a boundary at the passage to block thepassage, when the work task is not completed. 21.-29. (canceled)